Today,
the slogan Leaving No One Behind
unites us all. Why this particular slogan, you may ask.

First, as a UN
member country, Ukraine shares and supports the Global Sustainable Development
Goals.We apply the principle Leaving No
One Behind.

Second, if we explain
the meaning of the term “financial inclusion” in one word, this word would be
accessibility.

Technical
accessibility and price accessibility.

At
present, over one third of people all over the world still have no access to
financial services.Our mutual goal is
to reduce the share of Ukrainians in this huge number.

I
will not be mistaken if I confidently say that all present here are aware of
the fact – financial inclusion offers broader opportunities for people.

Access
to loans advances business and access to insurance creates a safety cushion.

For
the least secured social groups, an access to high quality financial services
means safety today and social mobility tomorrow.

Numerous
studies, particularly by such respected international institutions as the World
Bank and the International Monetary Fund, have proved a strong connection
between financial inclusion and financial stability.

At
the macroeconomic level this translates into the country’s capacity to tackle
crises.

At
a personal level, it gives Ukrainians a chance to be prepared for rapid changes
and unexpected developments that have permeated the life of our country for the
past two decades.

Ladies
and gentlemen,

It
should be noted that financial inclusion is not only about an increase in the
number of consumers of financial services, or their sales, so to say.

It
is about social responsibility – transparency and clarity of products to their
consumers.

Protection
of consumers is important because it is the prerequisite for the safe use of
loans.It is impossible for anybody to
benefit from the full potential of financial services without financial
literacy.

This
is where the NBU sees great opportunities for everybody gathered here.

Anyone
has a purpose and anyone can play a role:

●commercial sector can develop new
technologies and offer progressive solutions

●nongovernmental organizations
can ensure control and enhance communal capacity in an informal way

●while we at the public sector will continue
creating conditions for the increased well-being of Ukrainians.

What are our plans?

First. The NBU will
improve the quality of regulation and lay the grounds for strengthening the
financial sector.

Our
foremost task, as we see it, is
enhancing protection of rights of financial services consumers.

I
will be honest with you – at the NBU we truly hoped that Ukraine would get a
real protection system guaranteed by laws.

But
the parliament decided otherwise.

However,
this is not an excuse to abandon people with their problems with banks and nonbank
financial institutions.

Today, I am very happy to inform you of the following:

The
NBU assumes responsibility for protection of rights of financial services
consumers and establishes a special unit in charge of these issues.

First
of all, it will enable regulation of the information disclosure system that
will deal with information on financial products and services.Information transparency is at the core of
trust in the financial services and safeguards higher prosperity of the public.

We
will continue our work on people’s complaints, but from now on it will be more
systematic.

The
chain “complaint – response – changes in regulations” will become shorter and
more efficient.

This
will help reduce the number of misunderstandings between financial institutions
and their customers, improve their information awareness, and teach the
financial market to address their customers’ questions and comments.

Second. The NBU has
assumed the leadership and developed a vision for the future strategy of
financial literacy.

Why
does the central bank need it, considering that we are not part of the
education system?

Our
goal is to prepare young people for life
in the real world full of challenges and rapid changes.

Today,
we encourage everybody present to join in common work based on our vision. I
hope in a year we will be able to sum up our first results.

Ladies
and gentlemen,

I
am confident that many of you have joined the Forum with brilliant ideas of how
to make financial services more accessible for Ukrainians.